Murder charges against missionary dropped

RAJASTHAN, India  Gospel for Asia missionary Kasota, and several other believers, have been released from prison after being falsely accused of murdering a young child the Northern Indian stage of Rajasthan. The missionary was held in prison for more than a month before all charges were dropped. During his incarceration, Kasota led one man to Christ.

Last year, GFA reported that the Christians were arrested after a group of anti-Christian extremists framed them for the murder of a child. The 16-month-old from the missionary's village had suffered from a prolonged illness and was under medical care at the time of death. The child's death appears to have been a result of the illness.

Knowing that the parents had previously quarreled with the missionary's family over some land, the extremist group saw an opportunity to cause problems for the Christians.

The extremists advised the child's parents to break the bones in his body so it would look like the toddler had been beaten. Then, the extremists told the parents to take the child's body to a doctor for a post-mortem examination.

The physician recognized the plot and initially refused to go along with the ploy. The extremists threatened the physician, and forced him to file a false report. The child's family used the inaccurate post-mortem report to bring murder charges against the missionary and 10 believers in a GFA-affiliated church. They claimed that the "murder" was part of a plot to take land for a church building.

Kasota and several believers were thrown into prison and held there for more than a month, before being released on bail. The new believer to whom Kasota witnessed has also been release from prison and he plans to attend a GFA Bible college.